Princess Royal opens glazed building

18:07:20 31st July 2008

Liverpool could soon be the city that provides cures for diseases after The Princess Royal opened a state-of-the-art glass building, which will house the School of Tropical Medicine new research centre.

The £23 million building will test and develop new drugs and vaccines and director Professor Janet Hemmingway said she hoped it could make a real difference to the world's health.

"This fantastic new building gives us the potential to make an even greater impact on the diseases affecting the world’s poorest people," she explained.

"It will bring together a team of scientists capable of taking a scientific idea from ‘molecule to man’ under one roof for the first time.

"It is at the very heart of our long-term plans to generate products to directly improve health in the developing world."

With its floor to ceiling windows, the building resembles a sleek, riveted glass cuboid.

Its modern, arty look will add to Liverpool's reputation as this year's European City of Culture.